Dr. says lyrica helps 90 per cent of his fibro patients....

90 percent! I found that hard to believe after seeing the results on lyrica on the board here. But he says they are almost pain free and can lead almost normal lives with little pain![This Message was Edited on 07/26/2008]

DOES YOUR DOCTOR HAVE 180 FIBRO PATIENTS? THEN THAT WOULD ONLY BE 50% THAT IT IS HELPING. ALSO YES IT IS HIGH PRICED MY COPAY ON IT WAS 40.00/MONTH. I NEVER GOT IT FILLED I QUIT TAKING IT BECAUSE THE SAMPLES DID NOTHING FOR ME.

Well, my experience has been that at first, Lyrica gave me a huge improvement. (I would NOT go so far as to say that it enabled me to live a "normal" life!) Over time, the side effects started sweeping in and everytime I complained about them, my doctor would blame the side effects on the disease itself and up my dosage. After every upped dosage, of course the side effects got worse.

My personal opinion is that this is a dangerous drug for many of us. There are those that do well on it, but many more that don't.

I think doctors want to believe it's the end-all be-all, because then they don't have to deal with us anymore. But even in the most helpful of circumstances I feel that it is just masking symptoms, not fixing the problem.
[This Message was Edited on 07/17/2008]

I have been on Lyrica for 4 or 5 months now. I am pleased with the results. If nothing else, the restless legs have disappeared along with the driving pain in them.
Nervous yes about the long term effects, but then again, I wouldn't take any meds if I believed everything published.

my doctor when he highly recommended Lyrica for pain telling how successful this med was for most of his patients after reading the results on this board. Well, it certainly did not do anything for me, and I stopped it after taking it for 10 days.

After trying Cymbalta, Strattera, Lyrica and now Neurontin, I only had bad side effects and no relief of pain. What is the next step? May be somebody knows of a 'magic' pill. What surprises me that none of these meds brought any relief, the opposite, I had more pain with them than without.

In a previous message you mentioned that a sleep study showed that you possibly had Upper Airway Resistance Syndrome. Were you ever treated for it? Perhaps that is why meds don't help with your fibromyalgia. I knew someone who said getting treated for UARS via oral appliances helped to reduce their fibromyalgia pain.

When people don't respond to the usual meds for fibromyalgia, my theory is it's because they have another undiagnosed problem that isn't being treated, like a sleep disorder, hypothyroidism, celiac disease, magnesium deficiency, etc., etc. - Mark

I don't know about the percentage of people that are helped by a medication.

All I know is that I have been on Lyrica for over 2 years and is has worked great for me. I had side effects but they went away after my body got used to the med. It can also take up to 4 weeks to have it take effect as well.

Unfortunately there is no accurate way for us to decide how many this is helping and how many it is not. It is proven that people who have bad experiences are more likely to report that than people who are satisfied (that is because the bad experience makes you angry) so I think our numbers may be flawed.

I am not saying Lyrica should work for everyone, it doesn't. My mom tried it and it didn't work for her. I just don't think it is the horrible pill that some people make it out to be...all drugs have risks and side effects and will affect everyone differently...this is why it is so hard to find something that works for us.

What I duh forgot to add this is what he said AFTER he took me off it, I had increased it to 150 3 x a day and other than sleeping well, I gained 10 lbs, was unsteady and had blurred vision. He was concerned about the weight gain. He told me first 10 lb weight gain, next mo maybe 5 lbs, then 10, then 100 lb gain over a yr! OMG why would he put me on it, I am already overweight too much. So he gave me a script for cymbalta and I take only 150 mg of lyrica until I see him in 2 mo.

It did help me sleep with the severe pain I had, now last night I tossed and turned from 1 am on

I can't believe that so many are getting such good results after seeing the posts here.
[This Message was Edited on 07/18/2008]

It's seems like the weight gain is the major side-effect that people keep bringing up about Lyrica. My question is... for the people who tried it and were gaining weight... were you working out to counter-act the possible weight gain?

Does the pill increase the appetite which caused the weight gain or was it all water retention???

I'd like to know since I've only been on it about 4 weeks.

And as far as why anyone would take it after reading all the unhappy experiences others have had...

I was actually one of the first "guinea pigs" to try Lyrica, than called Pregabalin, and at 25 mg (very low dose) it immediately started to worsen my already existing head pain. It didn't touch my nerve, muscle or joint pain nor did it help w/ my sleep.

Nevertheless, everyone is different, and it might be worth it to try at the lowest dose first...

Let us know the results if you try it. When it works, it can be great...we're all so different and hypersensitive to meds, herbs, foods, etc.

Hi butterfly, the research I have read on Lyrica indicates that it gives significant results for about 30% of those that try it. Improvement of 25% or more is considered to be significant. I am glad for those that it works for, but they are very few. Good luck!

Michael
chiro in Kansas
Not suffering from FM, or anything else, just wanting to help.